Both the intelligence and the family members of self-proclaimed pir Lutfor Rahman Faruk blame fanatic Islamists for the murder of six people including the religious leader at his Ramakrishna Mission Road house on Saturday afternoon.
Lutfor’s younger son Abdullah Al Faruk in the case statement hinted the involvement of Islamist militants by mentioning about several previous attacks on his father, brother and their house. He filed the case with Wari police station accusing 10-11 unknown killers.
Police suspect that some of Lutfor’s disciples might have links with the murder including those kept as hostages during the killings which took place around 5:30pm.
Abdullah, who is a bank official, told the Dhaka Tribune that his father, brother Sarwarul Islam Monir and four disciples might have been killed for the religious practices and views.
Lutfor claimed himself to be the commander-in-chief of the forces of Imam Mahdi since 1997.
Pointing fingers at the militants, Abdullah said: “The killings could be the continuation of previous attacks carried out by cadres. Later we were informed that those were followers of [detained Huji chief] Mufti Abdul Hannan.
“My father had also been vocal against the Islamist fundamentalist leaders like Delawar Hossain Sayedee, former Islami Oikya Jote leader Mufti Fazlul Huq Amini, Charmonai Pir Fazlul Karim and Shaikh-ul Hadis for their anti-state activities and corruption.”
He also suspects some disciples of his father.
When asked, Abdullah said he was out for a walk at the time of the incident.
Lutfor’s wife Salma claimed that although a lot of money was looted from the house, the motive was something else. “The killers also wanted to be disciples. But all of a sudden, they swooped on us with sharp weapons.”
Some seven people including the family members and two disciples were kept as hostages – hands tied and faces zipped with cellulose tape in another room at that time.
According to the case statement, Lutfor’s daughter Shamsunnahar had untied herself and cried out. She then freed Monir’s father-in-law Golam Mostafa, Manjurul’s brother-in-law Anwar and another unknown disciple. But within minutes, Mostafa and the unknown disciple ran out of the house.
‘Killers repented’
According to the police, the killers expressed disappointment as they could not kill Abdullah. During the incident, they were searching for him and asked the captives his whereabouts.
The killers had left the house saying that they could not complete their mission as they could not kill Abdullah, said Deputy Commissioner Jahangir Hossain Matubbar of the Detective Branch (east).
“We are carrying out investigation focusing on the militant links as well as the controversial religious practices of Lutfor,” he said adding that they were verifying whether there was any other issue like personal enmity.
DB detains two
DB sources said they detained Mostafa and disciple Shahida Khatun, 54, who was among the hostages.
DC Jahangir, however, did not admit the detention.
Quoting captive eyewitnesses, the sources said the killers had been known to one of the deceased Shaheen, a disciple, as after the killers had come to the house he was interested to entertain them.
One of the killers was wearing a blazer and all of them were wearing jeans. They had long daggers and Chinese knives with them.
Shahida told the DB officials that the killers had been asking for Abdullah. They also claimed to have been ordered to kill six people, “but said ‘none of you will be spared if you make noise,’” she said quoting a killer.
Details of the deceased
Hailing from Bhorua village under Bhuapur in Tangail, Lutfor passed SSC in 1975 and HSC in 1977 from Pingna High School and College in Jamalpur. He had come to Dhaka in 1997.
He is facing several cases filed against him with Shahbagh, Sutrapur and Demra police stations for his activities. He also came under attack several times.
Earlier, Lutfor had long beard while residing at Bibirbagicha of Demra in 2007, but trimmed it later.
Other deceased
The other victims are Lutfor’s elder son Monir, 40, who was an official of the Sadarghat branch of City Bank; and disciples – Manjurul Alam, Mujibur Rahman, 25, Russel Bhuiyan, 20, and Md Shaheen, 25.
Manju, son of Khalil Sheikh of Brammangati in Sirajganj, was Lutfor’s principal disciple. His brother Abdul Mumin said Manju and his wife Asma had been staying at Lutfor’s house for the last two years along with their child aged three and a half years.
Shaheen, son of Kauser Ahmed, hailed from Badarpur village under Lalmohan upazila in Bhola. His father said Shaheen had been engaged in trading vegetables with him at Jatrabari. But four years ago, he became a follower of Lutfor and left the business.
His uncle Mafidul Islam said they could not take Shaheen back despite repeated attempts in the last two years.
Another victim Mujibul is the son of Fazlul Huq from Gazipur. His wife Rabeya said Mujibul had worked at a garment factory. On Thursday, he had gone to Savar to visit her and returned to Dhaka.
Russel, son of Tofazzal Islam Bhuiyan of Comilla, was a student of textile engineering at BGMEA Institute of Fashion Technology. His uncle Zakir Hossain said they had no idea about Russel’s links with Lutfor.
The bodies were sent to Sir Salimullah Medical College morgue early yesterday for autopsy.
